One Year Left to Play-Chapter 283 - 98: This College Student Is Unusually Popular

A sense of recognition and belief, Lakers players have plenty of emotions in these aspects, just like their fans who are always exceptionally confident.

During game interruptions and breaks, Del Harris continued to motivate the well-performing Sibaros tonight.

"Cedric, you are our strongest star, just like those superstars, show those talented rookies a lesson, the high schooler opposite is the best rookie this year..."

With a start of 10 wins and 3 losses and personal performance averaging 24 points and 7 rebounds, Sibaros already had stronger confidence than before. Hearing the words "play like a superstar," he became more excited.

The Brooklyn Nets tried hard, but couldn't overcome the obvious gap in strength, the exceptional excitement of the opposing players, and the strong forward line that they feared the most.

With Sibaros' 34 points and 10 rebounds, Divac's 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, Eddie Jones' 17 points, and Van Exel's 13 points and 6 assists, despite Jason Williams scoring 8 points with 16 rebounds, Kenny Anderson achieving 23 points and 7 assists, and Zhang Hao scoring 15 points offensively for Brooklyn Nets, they remained at a disadvantage throughout the game.

95 to 108, the Brooklyn Nets lost away, their record turned to 6 wins and 6 losses, returning to a fifty percent win rate.

After the game against the Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets will have a three-day rest period, and the 13th match of this month, which is also the last match in November, will be held on the 30th at home against the Bulls...

...

After the game against the Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets didn't linger at the away venue, and everyone took an early morning chartered flight back to Jersey City the next day.

If it were last season, with the coaching staff firmly committed to tanking, after playing in Los Angeles with three days of rest, they would surely stay two more days, returning the day before the game.

But now, they will return early to prepare.

The next game's opponent, having been at the top of the league for nearly a month with a current record of 13 wins and 1 loss, is the Bulls, naturally needing careful preparation. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

What if the opponent is not in good form? What if they suddenly erupt?

Such things always bring expectation under the premise of aiming for victory.

Losing brings a depressing mood, but fortunately, Brooklyn Nets players have a good mentality, celebrating together when they win while accepting the reality if they lose. Eastern Conference playoffs look promising, although not guaranteed. Currently 6 wins and 6 losses, they dropped to ninth place in the Eastern Conference. This year's competition is fiercer than anticipated, but there's still hope, better than last season.

That's enough.

Winning one and losing one, this middling record leaves them itching for more, but they always find other joys.

On the plane, Zhang Hao was reviewing the game analysis from last night. Since his role on defense is currently about rim protection, he needs to strengthen this aspect, as Sibaros is indeed one of the best strong forwards in the league today.

In last night's game, Almon Gilliam facing the inside combination of Sibaros, Elden Campbell, and Divac only scored 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

Without comparison, there's no impact, and compared to Sibaros, an All-Star Level small forward, Almon Gilliam indeed is a tier lower.

However, spending two Celestial Mandates now leaves 440 Celestial Mandates remaining... headache.

As Zhang Hao reviewed, contemplating how to defend against players of this type next time, Kenny Anderson suddenly exclaimed: "Exel, look, the newspaper says you might receive the monthly award in your first month!"

Zhang Hao quickly leaned over, seeing that Kenny Anderson was reading the newspaper, and it was true!

The monthly award player is a highly valuable regular-season NBA award, equivalent in importance to a mini MVP.

The player who receives this award is definitely the best performer of the month, as back then, the monthly award was not divided between East and West, ensuring one monthly award player of the East or West was not lesser than the second-best performer of the other side...

The monthly award Kenny Anderson referred to was certainly not that, but the Monthly Rookie Award.

Like the Monthly Award Player, the Monthly Rookie Award, as media describes it, is a mini version of the Rookie of the Year Award. Since the introduction of the Monthly Rookie Award in the 1981-82 season, every Rookie of the Year is among those who had won Monthly Rookie Awards, essentially making winning the Monthly Rookie Award qualifying for Rookie of the Year candidates.

Brooklyn Nets' history's first Rookie of the Year, Derrick Coleman, once won the Monthly Rookie Award three times in his rookie season, eventually clinching Rookie of the Year with overwhelming vote advantage.

Kenny Anderson felt Zhang Hao should be very happy, as winning the monthly award equals earning a ticket to the Rookie of the Year candidate list, Zhang Hao's expression was quite excited too.

Zhang Hao asked: "Boss, is there a trophy for the Monthly Rookie Award?"

"..." Kenny Anderson wants to cut open this little brother's head to see how it works inside!

For Zhang Hao, being a hot candidate for the Monthly Rookie Award was not surprising.

6 wins and 6 losses, even if they lose to the Bulls in the last game of this month, they will have a 6 wins and 7 losses record, much better compared to the current 76ers with 2 wins and 12 losses and the Raptors with 3 wins and 11 losses.

In terms of stats, he is also among the frontline in this rookie class.

Being a hot candidate for the Monthly Rookie Award, he feels it's well-deserved.

But regarding the trophy, he has some obsession.

He doesn't know how long he'll live this lifetime, and regardless of the time, he thinks it's remarkable from the memories of the future, but he always wants to leave something behind.